Performance and Emission Characteristics of Higher Blends of Preheated Pongamia Methyl Ester Using Exhaust Gas Waste Heat Recovery in Compression Ignition Engine

Environmental sustainability can be achieved by fuel derived from biological origin. Many authors concluded the safe use of a lesser blend of biofuel with diesel in the engine is not sufficient to decrease the dependency on diesel. High content of biodiesel has higher viscosity which is one of the major hurdles in replacing the B20 blend and diesel as primary fuel in internal combustion engines. Preheating of fuel is a proven technique to improve the fuel properties of biofuels. The performance improvement of the Compression Ignition engine was explored by preheating the higher blends of PME (Pongamia Methyl Ester) biodiesel blends using a Waste Heat Recovery Heat Exchanger. Biodiesel blend B60 (60% biodiesel and 40% diesel) of PME is preheated from 60 to 110 °C using exhaust gas heat, and its performance characteristics are compared with the B20 blend without preheating. Combustion improved due to an increase in peak in-cylinder pressure and heat release. The thermal efficiency improved by 17.83% compared to the B20 blend. Also, the CO, HC, and Smoke were reduced by 50%, 66%, and 62% respectively compared B20 blend at 75% load and 110 °C preheating.